PUTRAJAYA, July 13 — The Ministry of Environment and Water (Kasa) said a total of 15 local authorities will achieve carbon neutral status at the city level by 2050 through the implementation of low carbon strategies outlined in the National Low Carbon Cities Masterplan (NLCCM).
Kasa said in a statement today NLCCM introduced the 3M approach, namely measurements, management and mitigation specifically for administrators and town planners to implement low-carbon initiatives in areas under their jurisdictions.
It said the NLCCM document would help local authorities set the direction and approach in line with the concept of low-carbon cities towards reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions covering all municipal activities and areas under the administration of the local authorities.
Launched by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today, the NLCCM is a policy document comprising three key drivers and three key enablers supported by nine key directions and 24 action plans involving roles and synergies between ministries, departments, state governments, local authorities and the community.
It was launched during the opening ceremony of the Malaysian Low Carbon Cities Conference (MyL3C) themed “Empowering Cities Towards a Low Carbon Pathway”.
NLCCM is an initiative under the Green Technology Application for the Development of Low Carbon Cities (GTALCC) project to drive the implementation of low carbon initiatives in Malaysia via an integrated approach to achieve significant carbon emission reduction target.
Kasa said throughout the implementation of the GTALCC project from 2017 until 2021, various climate change mitigation measures have been enforced which recorded a cumulative amount of reduction in direct GHG emissions of 340,573.17 tCO2 eq.
The ministry said 64 local authorities had been approved to receive the Low Carbon City Catalyst Grant (GeRAK), which is part of the initiative under the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and Economy (Pemerkasa), adding that other local authorities could submit application to participate in phase two of the initiative at www.lccf.my/gerak/ before August 31.
About 500 participants including representatives from federal ministries and agencies, state governments, local authorities, professional bodies and non-governmental organisations attended the one-day MyL3C online conference, hosted by Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Seda), in collaboration with Kasa and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). — Bernama
